old bob at herne bay

waytogo28 .... you are are so right.... I confine my speedway to watching the SGPs on the telly. As to supporting my team ... I have no idea anymore which day of the week to turn up, or for that matter which track to travel to !!!!! (Lakeside Hammers) Seems Fridays were pre booked by the BSPA co chairman -and in the interests of himself decided nobody else could run on a Friday. Complete shambles. So in MY best interests I have walked away ..... I spend my money with BT sports now.

Keep the SGP on BT Sports. Shut down the Premier League and Championship. Put everyone out of their misery. Keep the National League with its teams of part time riders and affordable pay rates and admission fees.

I thought Fridays were Scunthorpe’s regular race night?.... I suppose now Mr Godfrey has b****red up everyone else’s fixtures he’s happy to run on anyone else’s regular race night.

Maybe the first item On the agenda at this years promoters winter bash should be an Auction. At present we have Lot 1 Poole Lot 2 Peterborough

What are you buying exactly ??? A tractor with a grader, a set of starting tapes, coloured lights, flags, an air fence and safety fence anda little "track material" and some pot holes ? The rider "assets" have little value as they are all guns for hire and ride where they please. I suppose Mr Ford will take the trophy cabinet with all his pots ! You wouldn't even be guaranteed which division of racing you might be taking part in , or more importantly which race night you might have to race your home meetings. Hardly a growth business ... I doubt Dragons Den woudl take it on.

Agree with you Aces 51 the racing over both legs of the final on both tracks was poor. Too many "FTG" heats. Oh one more thing is Adam Ellis a Poole asset ? or is it Swindon ?

Congratulations to Poole 2018 ... possibly the most undeserving side to lift the "Play off" Grand Final in recent memory. Two "racing incidents" that injured key Somerset and KingsLynn riders ... coupled with an appalling refereeing decision got Poole through the fianl stages of the P Offs. Rule manipulation over the use of guests as always with everything Poole Speedway do in the Elite League. Maybe "Misery" Middleditch will crack a smile now he has won ?????????????? All change for 2019 ...... will British Speedway survive ????

Lets hope this is the last we see of Matt Ford as a promoter at Poole....... I don’t know how, but he always seems to be granted favours from the BSPA ...... the sport needs to rid itself of favours ...... if Poole don’t think a suitable gust is available then use R/R like any other club would be forced to do........ Good luck to King’s Lynn tmw... I am no KL Buster fan but after all the “ racing incidents” caused by Poole riders to enable them to reach the final they dont deserve the P Off victory. Let’s hope we see a neutral referee and some racing tmw.

Hope Craig Acroyd enjoys his complimentary overnight stay at Baillie House Hotel tonight ...

Yup Tatum defo said there was a curfew - but didnt say what time it takes effect. I am about to turn this borefest off after 3 false starts for heat 6 .... delays for riders taking extra rides and IRR .......

I should have explained myself more clearly. Call another ambulance "999" and send the two riders with non life threatening injuries to Poole Hosital (which I recall is minutes from the stadium) - and carry on racing. Instead we have an hours delay live on TV. If BT dont screen speedway next year I wouldnt blame them. Its not good TV and not much fun if you are at the track. The "Health and Safety" brigade have really taken over the sport. They cannot race now with the paramedic in the pits - has to be on the centre green apparently. The sport is ruined by delay delays delays.

Once again Speedway degenerates into a farce. " riders , both with non life threatening injuries, surely could be taken to hospital in an ambulance ( Poole Hospital is not a million miles from the stadium? - and the paramedice remains at the stadium to allow racing to continue. Oh no - complete chaos ensues - no one knows what is going on and speedway airs its appalling record of delayed meetings to a live TV audience Delays delays delays - the sport is no longer entertaining.

The "business end" of the season degenerating into pure farce. Two teams both operating the "rider Replacement" , (and Leaside's Zach W presumably still doubtful? ) Ulrich O still not fully fit , and Peterboro using a gust for Scotty Nicholls. Both sides heading into a "less than ideal"** double header racing the same side twice with 6 riders on parade. Seems almost acceptable that same side double headers take place. From the fans entertainment viewpoint a 7pm start is a poor decision - given Leaside's proven inability to run a meeting in under 2 hours - will be at least an 11pm finish after the delays with R/R and the selfish track curator who indulges in obsessive tractor grading. I thought my enthusiasm to watch the Hammers would be rekindled by the p. offs, just to make the trip to see a meeting at Hoddesdon - once again I am left disillusioned. ** quote from our illustrious promoter Jon Cook.

Don’t suppose either Lakeside or Peterborough are in a hurry to run the 2nd leg KO cup - let Mr Godfrey wait until December until he knows Scunthorpe’s opposition in the KO Cup ?

Seems all the top championship teams have now got riders injured - wiht Craig Cook injured last night in the SGP. All I hope is that Scunthorpe win nothing at all after all the fixture manipulation by their "promoter". Tippex him out of the Management Committee ... briliant idea. Along with the rest of the "management" committee. They need to be a bunch of independents without a vested interst in their own little business.

Oh .....the p.ship p.offs I can hardly wait. Top 4 clubs out of a league of 7. Maybe a fitting end to “Premiership” speedway in the UK ?

Probably contractually have to stay at Thurrock for te rest of the season, but suspect something along the lines of Lakeside Hammers "temporarily" moving to Hoddesdon next season (2019) whilst Mr Cook and Mr Douglas pursue other locatins for speedway in Essex ???

Walterplinge wrote "Huge problem? With Boxall's average they can practically pick any guest on a horses for courses basis. Though Kent can't be punished for Boxall's criminal activities, they shouldn't profit from them either. Maybe R/R only would be fair. " Let's remember Luke Bowen's injury was the original need for a replacement rider ........ so another replacemnt for Bowen is required

Ove fundin fan, I think we are on the same page.....meetings need to snappier,less delays etc etc .... maybe 3 laps doesn’t help .. but why are we sticking to 15 heats ? Let’s have 18 heats ...... maybe have a separate 3 lap tournament with 2 meetings each of 13 heats in an evening..... lets have KO cup matches with say 16 heats - variety is the spice of life......it’s all so same old same old . You can tarmac the starts and stop gardening at a stroke . Or stick a scaffold pole behind em when they get to the tapes. 1 minute warning will get some urgency into the riders getting to the starts. 2 minutes is TOO LONG for a restart after a tapes infringement. Problem I have with speedway 2018 is as well as the BSPA, most diehard fans appear to have accepted the appalling presentation, the appalling stadia, the appalling delays as “part and parcel” of the sport....... trouble is no new fans are interested.

Ove fundin fan .... 3 lap races 45 seconds of action riders will know the last lap is lap 3 and sort out their passing attempts accordingly. Most modern results are decided after lap one ( well by bend 2 mostly) . Maybe have more heats in a meeting ? Cut out all the time wasting at the start - if they aren’t up to the tapes let the tapes up .....the riders will soon stop their b gardening antics. There has to be MORE entertainment and less prims Donna rider antics. Appoint a Race Director at every meeting ( Phil Morris) who keeps things moving.

None of this tinkering will save UK speedway on its downhill spiral. More fans are needed at the turnstiles. Cricket saved itself by inventing 20 over crash bang wallop “T20 “ . Purists hate it but it gets the punters paying to watch. Maybe Speedway needs a kick up the bum and change the 4lap 15 heat format for every meeting So maybe have 3 lap races ..... no race stoppages - if you fall off get off the track or you will be excluded .... do as you like at the tapes but if you touch em you are excluded. No first bend bunching - if you fall and don’t get off the track or remount you are excluded.2 minute rule shortened to one minute. Fail to make the warning you are excluded no replacements allowed .

Excellent - so just the 3 sides in next years championship.......tell you what go straight through to the p.offs - no need for the early season preamble meetings

yup as well as Redcar for the SGP's and all next years BSPA "shared" events, I can always be sure that Scunthorpe will be racing EVERY Friday next season.

The bottom line for Lakeside will be whether Mr Cook can guarantee completing a full 2019 season at the BSPA promoters conference in November ??

Unless the “exciting plans” from the BSPA include a new vice chairman, I don’t see speedway at Lakeside in 2019 being viable - whatever the outcome of discussions with the owners of the Lakeside sports site. Under the tenure of the 2018 BSPA management committee 2 clubs appear to have been assisted towards closure.